A Whole Lotta Luck
by MarieMMania
Summary: Max's family is rich. Fang's is not. These two polar opposites are thrown together due to pure coincidence and chance. But how much of each other's story do they actually know? Sometimes it's not enough to judge a person by their social status. Sometimes you have to look a little further. For these two, that might just take a whole lotta luck.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! The characters will probably be a little OCC in this because it's an AU fanfic and they all grew up normally their whole lives. Sooooo, yep. This is my first Max Ride fanfic so if you have any suggestions please leave a review for me. Reviews make me very happy.** **(:**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

My dad won the lottery.

The freaking _lottery_.

It's not even like we were poor and needed the money; he won it off of the _one_ ticket he bought as a _joke_.

I mean, seriously?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having tons of money to buy whatever the hell I want. But does this sudden income give my parents permission to move me to Rivera Falls, to live in a little rich neighborhood with a total of 50 people in it?

Uh, hell no.

I don't care if we now have a couple hundred million dollars; we were perfectly happy living in our cozy three story home in our cozy town. Oh yeah, that actually had _people _in it that were _normal_.

Whatever though, right?

At least I've got a roof over my head.

Yip-freaking-ee.

"Max, I really don't see why you're so upset about this," my sister Ella sighs, poking her head through my door. "It's not like we're moving to a different state or anything. It's literally the next town over."

I finish taping up my last box and sit back, leaning against my wall. "The point isn't that we're moving. The point is that I don't want us to suddenly start acting all snooty and stuck-up just because we've got some extra bucks in the bank."

Ella rolled her eyes at me. "You're so stereotypical. Nudge lives in Rivera Falls, and she's not stuck up like, at all."

That's right. Ella's happy that we're moving because not only does she get to have her own walk-in-closet at our new house, she gets to be neighbors with her best friend, Nudge.

Well, technically that's not her name. But real names are too mainstream right now, anyways.

"It's not Rivera Falls, Ella," I sigh. "We have so much money, you couldn't even count it yourself. I don't want it to get to my head."

"Max, you're one of the most down-to-Earth people I've ever met. Trust me, it's not going to get to your head." Then she laughs, leaving my room with a little skip.

I stand up and lean against my window, looking out over the little park across the street from my house. One of the swings is still rocking back and forth, as if someone just left it recently and it hasn't slowed to a stop yet. That's _my_ swing. That's the swing that _I_ always used.

Not anymore, I guess.

I grew up in this house. On the door, you can see the pencil marks from where I measured myself as I grew. On the walls, you can see the markers and sharpie marks from when I went through a "rebellious" stage and decided to graffiti my own walls. On the floor, there are dust bunnies from where furniture was and stains from where I spilled soda.

This room was ugly, but it was mine.

"Max!" my mom shouts from downstairs. "I need the rest of your boxes! The truck will be leaving soon!"

"Coming, Mom!" I shout back to her. My mom is the famous Dr. Martinez, animal vet at the local hospital. She has now entered an early retirement due to the lottery, and it was pretty much a shock to everyone. She loved her work more than air.

I pick up the box with all of my pictures in it, (Yeah, that's right, I have a box with just pictures. I'm kind of a memory freak.) and carry it downstairs, peering over the top so that I don't miss a step or trip. That's nearly impossible, though. I've been going up and down these steps since I could walk.

"Thanks, Max," my mom breathes, taking the box from me and setting it on the others from my room. I notice that she's sporting some new diamond earrings.

Living large, my friends. That's us.

"Just think, Mom. Things would be so much easier if we just, you know, stayed here," I say dramatically, turning to climb the steps one last time. I need to say good-bye to the old place, you know?

My mom sighs. "Max, Rivera Falls is beautiful. You're going to love it."

'Max, Rivera Falls is beautiful. You'e going to love it,' I mouth with a look of disgust on my face since my back is turned to her.

"We leave in five minutes!" she warns.

Five minutes compared to the rest of high school. Not a very tough decision.

I don't look into Ella's room; she's trapped me in there way too many times, forcing me to listen to One Direction. My mom and dad's room is the same. I hate it because it was always filled with books on animals and chemicals and science related stuff. My dad, Jeb, was a scientist. Not exactly sure what for, but I guess I never really cared anyways.

Then, I come up to my room. I walk around the perimeter of it. I've never seen it look so big.

"Max!" my mom shouts. "It's time!"

Hah, I seriously doubt that was five minutes.

At the doorframe, I run my fingers down the measurements that we stenciled in. The last recorded one was when I was 13. Now, at 16, I've grown about two extra inches.

"Max!" my mom shouts, clearly annoyed that I haven't been answering her.

"I'm coming!" I yell back to her, leaving the room and slamming the door one last time for good measure.

Good-bye home. Good-bye room. Good-bye park.

At the bottom of the stairs, the guy from the moving truck seems to give me a reassuring smile as he picks up the last box and carries it outside.

"I swear Max, you need to listen more," my mom says, closing the front door behind us and locking it. She places the key under the welcome matt.

"That's safe," I comment. "Let's just give someone a free house."

"The realtor is going to pick it up in a hour," she tells me, ignoring my sarcasm. "Now, come on."

We walk over to the car and I climb in the back with Ella, who already has her earbuds in. She's bobbing her head to some peppy pop song that I can hear all the way from the other seat.

If she wants to kill her ears, that's cool.

"Ella, please turn down the music," my dad says, turning around in his seat to look at her. She immediately lowers it.

Or not.

He smiles and squeezes my mom's hand. "Let's go!"

As Mom starts the car, I turn around so that I can glimpse at our house for one last time. When the car starts rolling down the driveway and down the street, I can feel it slipping further and further away.

Good-bye normal Max.

Hello Rivera Falls.

* * *

**So, whad'ya think? Max seems a little self-centered and me, me, me, right now, but that's just because she's really upset about moving. I promise she won't be that way the whole time.**

**-MarieMMania**


	2. Club Memberships

**Wow. I was seriously not expecting for this story to get such good reviews so early on. Thank you sooooo much; you guys rock. And because you're all so amazing, I wrote an extra long chapter for you. (:**

**S1lv3r3agl3: I hadn't actually thought about adding Total, but he would fit perfectly into the plot I'm coming up with for this story, so he'll definately make an appearance. Thank you so much for the idea!**

* * *

The drive to our new house consists of Ella singing to her music very loudly, and Mom pointing out the window and shouting things like, "Oh, look! It's the new bakery!" and "Ooh! Ooh! That's my friend, Mildred's house! Isn't it beautiful?"

We've seen all of these things before. Just because we now live in Rivera Falls doesn't mean that these places became any more spectacular.

Soon we're pulling into our long, twisty driveway. The drive took a total of like ten minutes, which is great. The only good thing about moving here is that I get to stay at my old high school.

"Max, we didn't want to overwhelm you back at the house, but, there's going to be a surprise for you waiting in the driveway!" my mom exclaims, taking the last turn. I don't even have time to roll my eyes and think 'Oh, it's a car,' because at that moment we pull up to the house and in front of it sits a bright red convertible.

"No fair!" Nudge pouts, "She gets a car!?"

"You guys got me a car?" I ask, and then I remember that we won the lottery and we're now freaking millionaires.

Which is very obvious due to the mansion looming above, and the four car garage, and the giant driveway we have to drive down to get here.

"We know you've been wanting one for some time. And we figured that now was as good a time as any," my dad smiles, clearly pleased that they were able to surprise me. He has reason to smile, too. It's a pretty sweet car. But it's not... me. I guess when I imagined getting a car I thought of a Jeep or something.

"Did you guys get me a car too?" Ella blinks, stuffing her iPod into her new Gucci purse. If anyone in this family is enjoying our new fortune, it's her.

"No, you're only 15. When your 16th birthday comes around next year we'll get you your own car too. Whatever you want," my dad says.

Apparently I didn't qualify to get whatever car I want.

"Come on, you guys! Let's go see the new house!" Mom's so excited I'm scared for a brief moment that she'll actually explode out of happiness.

I push open the car door and step out, blinking in the hot Arizona sun. The one thing the landscapers forgot to do was put in trees. I know we're in the middle of the desert, but you'd think they'd be able to find a way to keep them growing since it's a million dollar house.

The scary mansion- err, our new house definitely looks like a million bucks too. The white stone outside is gorgeous, with large windows that will allow sun in. Our front yard alone has a waterfall fed pond with koi fish in it and an elaborate bird bath. The walkway up to our front door has red and yellow flowers growing along it, and grass fills up the front yard.

"It's beautiful," Ella sighs, swishing her hand around the pond.

"You know those fish bite," I say to her, walking up the walkway.

Her hand darts out and her eyes become wide. "They do?"

Probably not. I shrug and walk through the open door, where Mom is waiting with a huge smile on her face.

"Amazing, honey. You did a great job," Dad says to her, poking his head into the different rooms.

Holy crap; this place is _huge_. To my right, a large spiral staircase twirls up to the second level, and to my left is a wide, open room with large floor to ceiling windows on one side and a huge, stone fireplaces with built in shelves that takes up the other wall. Through that room and opposite of the wall of windows is a dining room with an elk antler chandelier and dark maroon walls.

When you go straight you come to another large den area with bookshelves lining all of the walls and a thick carpet. To the right of that is what I would consider my mom's dream kitchen. I can't cook, so I won't ever be in there. But my mouth is already watering at the thought of what she'll make.

Have I mentioned that I love food?

Well I do, a whole freaking lot.

"OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!" Ella squeals, running through all of the rooms. "This place is perfect! Good job picking that ticket, Dad!"

While they ooh and ahh over the ground level, I sneak upstairs to pick my room. Upstairs is a long hallway with doors branching off of it everywhere. The first door is obviously going to be Ella's room, because it has light pink walls, big windows and a bathroom connected to it. Next, is obviously my parents, since it's the master bedroom with a huge closet and bath, and then the next two rooms are probably going to be guest rooms since they're smaller and less extravagant.

Then the last room. I hold my breath and throw the door open, revealing a small but cozy room with a window seat and a tiny staircase in it.

Hmmm.

I climb the squeaky staircase and arrive at a door. Pushing it open and coughing on dust, it brings me to a giant room that probably looms over half of the house. It looks like no one's ever touched this room, since a layer of grime covers the hardwood floors and the windows are tinged with dust, but it's big and spacious.

I could live with this.

By the time I go back downstairs, Ella and my parents are claiming their rooms as well.

"I've found my room," I announce to them. "It's at the end of the hall... And it is _mine_." I add, glaring at Ella. She rolls her eyes.

"That's fine, I'm perfectly happy here," she says, turning in a circle in the pink room I had assumed she would take.

"Are you sure you want this one?" my mom says from down the hall, peering into it. "It's awfully... small."

"There's a hidden staircase," I say to her very matter-of-factly.

"A hidden staircase... of course," she says, shaking her head.

"Have you seen the basement yet?" Ella asks me. But without waiting for my reply she grabs my hand and pulls me downstairs, through the main floor and down another flight of stairs.

I have to admit, it's a pretty sweet basement.

There are TVs up along the walls and a bar in the corner, which I know my mom and dad will like. Behind the bar there's a door that leads to a pretty nice wine cellar.

Not that I know anything about wine cellars, of course.

On the opposite side of the basement, through some fancy french doors is a giant movie room, with the wall to floor movie screen and everything.

"Pinch me," I say to Ella.

She laughs and says, "We're home, Max. We're really home."

* * *

The movers start bringing in furniture and boxes, with Mom telling them where to put everything, while Dad examines my room.

"Here's the deal," he says, biting his lip. "If you get this room all cleaned up by yourself, you can have it."

"Yes!" I say quickly. "Yes, yes, yes! Anything!"

Never really thought I was the type of person to be so eager over something.

He smiles, pleased with my reaction.

"You can get started tomorrow; right now we need you to help unpack boxes."

And that's why I don't get overeager.

* * *

I never knew we had so much _stuff_. After an hour of carrying in boxes, my arms feel like rubber and I am in some serious need of a chocolate chip cookie. Those things are kinda freaking amazing.

When all of our stuff is out of the trucks the moving guys leave us with a house full of boxes and some 'good lucks'.

Ugh.

I go up and help Ella with her room, placing her picture frames and posters on her walls for her. Once she gets her curtains up and her bed made she sends me off so that she can get her closet and bathroom organized. I roam around the house for a while until Mom finds me.

"We have to get memberships for the club," she tells me, poking her head around the corner of the kitchen. "Can you grab Ella?"

"Ella!" I scream.

"What?!" she screams back.

"Come downstairs!"

Mom comes running into the hall. "Not like that!" she scolds me, but I saved myself a trip up the stairs so I really don't care.

Ella comes bouncing down the stairs. "What?" she asks again.

"We have to get memberships to the club," Mom explains to her, grabbing her purse.

"Oh! Nudge talks about that place all the time! Apparently there are tennis courts and pools and a gym and the workers there are really cute..." she trails off. "I love being rich."

That makes one of us.

Mom laughs and opens the door, grabbing her car keys. "Come on, then."

On the drive to the club we pass mansion after mansion after mansion. I wonder how much money it would take to but the whole entire town of Rivera Falls. Probably about a billion dollars. I guess we could buy it.

When we reach the club mom valets and everything, which is another surprise. I've never been waited on for anything in my life. I have to admit though, Nudge was right. The guy that takes our car is my age with blond hair and deep blue eyes and a killer smile. His name tag reads 'Dylan'.

"I haven't seen you around before," he says, smiling at me while my mom fills out the valet ticket. "You new?"

"Yeah, we just moved in to house number 12," I tell him.

"12... That's a pretty expensive house." Then his eyes light up in realization. "Hey! Your family won the lottery! I saw it in the paper!"

"That's us," I say, fake smiling.

"Well, I'm Dylan," he says pointing to his name tag. "If you need _anything_ just let me know."

"Thanks," I say, as Mom hands him the valet ticket.

"Oh, come on!" Ella says, pushing me into the club.

Mom gives our names and our address and registers us all as Ella and I look at the map. Then Mom calls us over so that we can give them our fingerprints.

"It's the newest technology!" the lady at the desk gushes. "When you come in, all you do is put your finger in our scanner and you're free to go anywhere. It's so much easier than those silly cards you have to carry."

She has us test it out, and then asks if we need anything.

"Oh, yes! We have an attic room that needs to be cleaned out, do you have anyone that could come out?" Mom asks. I stare at her. Although I don't want to clean it myself, I certainly don't want to be spoiled and have someone else do it for me.

"Of course!" the lady says. She takes out a walkie talkie but then calls out, "Oh! Nick here can do it! NICK!"

A teenager my age, maybe older stops in his tracks behind us. He has longish dark hair that sweeps just above his eyes and the khaki pants and light blue collar shirt uniform that Dylan had on. On Dylan, it looked normal. On him it looks out of place.

He walks over and leans on the desk. "Yes, Ashley?"

I swear I see her sigh, and her eyes are glued to his lips. "They need someone to clean their attic. Uhh, you wouldn't mind, would you? We offer the cleaning package, you know." She blinks at him and smiles.

Nick glances at me and I can basically hear him calling me spoiled.

"Not at all. What's your address?" He turns to my mom and Ashley goes over to the other window to help out another member.

I listen while mom writes the address for him on a sticky note. "Can you come by at about 11:30?" She asks him as he sticks the note in his pocket. "It's not much; it shouldn't take you very long."

Nick nods and I do a little cough. "Mom, I can clean my own room."

"Honey, I think we both know that you'll just keep putting off. It's much easier this way," she says, insulting me.

"I'll be there at 11:30, ma'am," Nick tells her. And then with a nod he walks off.

I want to scream at her. I'm not spoiled. I don't need Nick to clean up the room for me. I didn't even want to move here in the first place. But instead I stalk off out the doors and to the valet. I hand Dylan our side of the ticket and he rushes off to get the car.

"Honestly, Max. He's just cleaning. I thought you would be happy," Mom says, coming up to me with Ella trotting behind.

"No, Mom! I don't want to turn into someone that can't do anything for myself!" I whisper yell at her, because Dylan has arrived with our car and is opening the doors for us.

"We'll talk about this at home," she snaps as I plop down into the passenger seat. Right before Dylan closes the door, he hands me a note with a ten digit number on it, or in other words, a phone number.

As he shuts the door, he mouths 'Call me.'

* * *

**Don't you worry your pretty little heads, this will definately be a Fax story. But in order to get some plot going I've got to do the cliche Mylan. It won't last, and there will be Fax in between, but I have to.**

**Ooh la la. Fang- errr, Nick, in khakis. Review for more long chapters? (:**


	3. Meeting Nick

**Sooooooo, who's ready for Fang and Max to meet? I am. (:**

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The next morning I wake up in a strange house, in a strange bed, in a strange room.

Then I remember the lottery. And I remember that I have to clean my room today. And I remember that Nick is coming over at 11:30 to do it for me. Peering at the clock on Ella's bedside table, I see that it's 11:00 exactly.

Oh, yeah. I had to sleep in Ella's room last night. That was fun. Not. She kicks in her sleep. I do, too, but still. That was not an enjoyable experience.

Now I can hear her out-of-tune singing coming out from her bathroom, where a warm mist is seeping through underneath the door. Ella takes really hot showers. Like, _really hot_ showers.

"Ella!" I scream, hopefully loud enough for her to hear over the water.

"What!?" she screams back, stopping her rendition of 'That's What Makes You Beautiful'.

"Why didn't you wake me up!?" I am now throwing off her frilly purple comforter and searching through my suitcase for clothes. The clock claims that it's 11:31 and I need to be in that room before Nick.

Ella shuts the water off and says, "Because the last time I tried to wake you up I had a black-eye for picture day!"

Oh, yeah. Completely forgot about that.

"Gah!" I swear the clothes I want to wear have buried themselves at the very bottom of my suitcase on purpose. I can hear Ella's hairdryer cranked up by the time I pull out my skinny jeans and Rise Against T-shirt.

I throw them on and am pulling a brush through my hair when Ella comes out. Her hair is styled, her makeup is done to perfection, and her outfit is perfect, as usual.

"Max, I can always give you a makeover," she says, glancing at my casual outfit while pulling an earring on.

"Nope, I'm good," I say, tossing the brush on the ground and smoothing my side bangs over. "Is my toothbrush in there?"

"Yeah, it's on the counter," she replies, grabbing her phone from her purse and gasping. "Oh my god! You know that kid that's coming to clean your room!?"

I fidget, not happy with where this conversation is going. That's her 'let's torture Max face'.

"Yeah...?"

"Well he's going to be the new quarterback for the football team! He goes to our school!" she exclaims.

I don't even need to ask her how she knows this. The second we got home last night she texted Nudge, asking about the 'cute Nick guy that works at the club'. Nudge is the biggest gossiper at our school, and it's clear that she's done her research.

"Great," I say, relieved that that's all she said. I walk over to her bathroom and put toothpaste on my toothbrush, then stick it in my mouth.

Ella rolls her eyes. "Max. The future most popular kid at school is about to be in you room. Aren't you a little bit excited?"

"He's going to be _cleaning_ my room," I correct her, trying not to let toothpaste dribble out of my mouth.

"Same difference!" she squeals. "Oh. My. God. You are going to be sooo popular!"

I can name a ton of reasons for why this isn't going to make me popular. One, he's going to think I'm spoiled. Two, he's going to think I'm spoiled. Three, guys usually just don't like me. They hit on me until they see how much I eat. Then they very casually drop off the face of the Earth.

"Whatever, Ella," I say, spitting out the toothpaste. "I have to be up there before him!" Then I run out of the room and grab the cleaning supplies that Mom left out on the kitchen table, carrying them up to my room.

It seems to of gotten worse. For a moment I'm glad that Nick is going to help me out, but then I dismiss the thought. I can clean my own room!

I hear the echo of the doorbell as it rings, and I run over to the grimy window that looks out over the front yard. A black truck is parked in our driveway, and I bet I can guess who it belongs to.

"Hello!" I hear my mom call out. "Just go up those stairs, last door at the end of the hall, and then up the smaller set of stairs.."

She's giving him directions up to my room.

After panicking for a moment, I realize that if I'm going to make this convincing, I might as well make it look like I was doing something. So I grab the window cleaner and start spraying it over the windows.

"Thanks, Mrs. Martinez," I hear Nick say and then I'm frantically looking for the paper towels that I think I brought up here... They're not in the box of cleaning supplies, not downstairs...

"Looking for these?" Nick asks me, poking his head up the stairs and holding up a package of paper towels.

Damn, he's fast.

"Ummm, sure... yeah. Thanks," I stutter.

He tears open the plastic wrapping and then tosses the towels to me. I manage to catch them, and I rip off a couple of squares and start wiping off the grime.

"You can go downstairs if you want..." Nick trails off.

"No, that's okay. I think I'll stay up here and help," I say back.

Nick doesn't say anything; he just quirks an eyebrow and squats down, pouring cleaner into a bucket and sloshing it around.

We don't say anything as we clean. Mom comes up to tell me that she's taking Ella to the club, and Dad's at work, and 'don't burn the house down,' and then Nick and I are alone.

Once I finish wiping off the windows five times and finally getting all of the goo off of them my stomach growls. Nick has finished mopping the floors and is putting some kind of hardwood floor polish on them to make them shine.

"You want food?" I ask him.

Nick shrugs and we go downstairs to the kitchen.

I can't help but notice him admiring it as I search through the fridge. Mom hasn't made her big grocery store run yet, (she's excited because we can now buy the expensive meat) so our choices are pretty limited. Limited as in leftover lasagna from last night.

I take the container out, scoop some onto plates that have recently been unpacked, and stick it in the microwave.

"Soooooo, Nick... " I start because it's way too quiet. But he cuts me off and says, "Call me Fang."

I can't help but burst out laughing.

"Fang? Your nickname's Fang?" More laughing brought to you be _moi_. "How'd you get that one?"

I think he almost quirks a smile, but it's probably just a smirk.

"I had really sharp baby teeth and I used to bite people a lot," he says.

"Hah, ouch," I comment as the microwave beeps. I pull the food out and grab some forks, handing Fang his. Then I push myself up onto the counter since there's nowhere to sit yet.

"Sorry there's no seats," I apologize.

"It's fine," he says, leaning against the counter and placing a forkful of lasagna into his mouth.

We eat in silence. This Fang character is a man of few words. ...Very few words.

When we finish eating I rinse off the plates and stick them in the dishwasher.

"Don't you have people for that?" Fang asks me.

"No," I snap. "We're not rich or anything."

I say that on reflex, and only realize what I said when he smirks.

"...I mean, we are rich..." Now I sound self-centered. "But we didn't used to be, so it's all really new to me and..."

Fang just glares at me. I don't get why he's so mad. I didn't want him to help me clean my room either.

We're interrupted from a very awkward silence when I hear the door open and Ella shouts, "MAX, NUDGE AND LISSA ARE HERE!"

I wince at her screech. How the hell she manages to do that, I have _no_ idea and send an apologetic look at Fang.

But he's not looking at me anymore. Instead, he's watching as Nudge, Ella, and Lissa come in and drop their purses on the coffee table.

Fang, who seems like a rock of no emotion, is checking Lissa out.

This should be interesting.

* * *

**Ahahaha. Sorry. The Fang and Lissa thing had to happen. This story is just full of cliches isn't it? Don't worry, I've got some uncliche twists coming up.**

**You guys reviewed a lot and I gave you a very, very short chapter. I'm sorry. I'll try harder next time. I promise.**

**Review for some uncliche plot twists next chapter? (:**


	4. I Dare You

**Hey guys! I'm going to have a little competition for the story. At first, I was going to do Eggy, because that's what it originally is. But I've had several people comment and ask for Niggy; so now I'm not sure. Basically, you just have to comment whatever you want it to be and whichever pairing gets the most comments is what I'll go with. **

**Remember. No comment equals no vote.**

* * *

Fang and I go back upstairs so that he can finish the floor polish. When he offers to help me carry the furniture and boxes up to my room, I am 100% certain that he likes Lissa.

"Hey, Fang?" I ask, while going through one of the boxes we carried up.

He uses a pocketknife to break through the tape on a different one. "Mmm?"

"I dare you to go ask Lissa out," I say, looking up and waiting for his reaction.

He looks up sharply, but then his face goes back to being impassive.

"...Why?" he asks, casually tossing the CDs from the box onto the floor. Yep, I collect CDs. I know. I'm cool.

"Because you were checking her out earlier!" I say, as if this is completely obvious.

"No I wasn't," he says, still not looking at me.

"Oh, okay then. I guess I was wrong." I shrug and flatten the box of trinkets I just emptied. I am so not wrong.

He quirks an eyebrow while continuing to toss CDs out.

"But you do think she's attractive, right?" I prompt.

Fang is finished with the box of CDs. He flattens it and tosses it down the stairwell.

"Why do you care, Max?" he sighs.

"Because she likes you," I tell him. "And she's one of my sister's best friends and I care about her feelings." I blink at him innocently. If this was someone that knew me well they would tell me to cut the bull and shut up. But it's Fang. And he doesn't know me at all.

Fang finally looks up at me. "How do you know?"

"Because she sleeps over all the time and they're very bad at being quiet," I tell him. Frankly, I have no clue whatsoever as to if Lissa likes him or not. But it's a pretty safe bet that she would say yes if he asked her out. She doesn't have a boyfriend and Fang is... attractive. He's got muscle and the looks and he's going to be the quarterback of the football team.

"So you're saying if I asked her out she'd say yes?" he asks me.

"Oh, definitely," I smile. This is way to easy. But it just proves what a nice person I am.

Pfft.

He pauses. "I'll think about it."

"You do that."

We go downstairs and carry up the last box. I leave Fang to unpack it so that I can get us some lemonade. When I come back up the steps, very carefully trying not to spill any of our drinks, I see Fang sitting cross-legged with my picture box cut open in front of him. He doesn't even seem to notice me come up the steps because he's looking through my small jewelry box that instead of having jewelry in it has pictures of Sam.

Sam that died last summer.

I drop the lemonades in shock and they crash against the floor, spilling everywhere. Fang looks up sharply in surprise and jumps up, reaching for the paper towels to clean up the mess.

Then he sees my expression.

"Was I not supposed to look at those?" he asks in alarm.

I don't answer him. Instead I'm sliding across the floor and stuffing the pictures and newspaper clippings back into the small box.

"Max?"

I hug the box to my chest and try so hard not to cry.

"Thanks for helping, Fang. Can you just go?" I get out.

"There's still tons of furniture to carry up," Fang says, mopping up the lemonade mess I made but not moving his eyes off of my face.

"I.." I don't know what to say to him to make him leave. It was my own stupid fault for putting the box there and not in my suitcase. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Fang tries a different approach. "Max, why do you have pictures of that kid that died last summer?"

I swallow and blink and shake my head.

"Max?" he asks again, gently this time.

"His name is Sam... and he was my boyfriend." I say in a rush. Then I choke on my own breath.

I don't know what I expected from Fang. But it definitely wasn't for him to ditch the lemonade mess I made and come sit next to me and gently take the box from me and lay it on the floor.

"How long did you guys date?" he asks.

"A year?" I say, trying to remember, wringing my hands together. "Maybe longer. We'd been friends since before I can remember."

"Were you there when it happened?" he asks.

What happened was that he drowned in the community pool during an end of the year pool party. The whole pool was filled with floats with teenagers on them. At one point we were all fighting for the best ones and pushing each other into the water. I remember him sitting next to me on one, and then flipping over backwards into the water. He was going to swim under and push everyone off of the big float from underneath.

He never came up for air.

When it took him forever to come out, I told the lifeguard that he had gone under. She called everyone out of the pool and dived in to get him. He was still alive, but he wasn't responding. An ambulance came and picked him up.

He was in a coma for two days. Doctors did tests and found that he was brain dead.

His parents pulled the plug.

Sam died.

In response to Fang, I just nod my head. He hugs me awkwardly. All I know about him is from what Ella told me. All he knows about me is that I'm rich and spoiled and that my old boyfriend died.

After a couple moments he pulls away.

I'm not crying. When Sam died I cried enough for a lifetime. I felt pretty pathetic, but hey, he _died_.

Fang just sits next to me in silence. He seems to do that really well.

"It's okay," he says awkwardly after what seems like hours.

I look up at him and roll my eyes. It is certainly -not- okay.

"Okay, fine then. It sucks," he says instead.

"You could say that," I say.

We sit in silence for a few moments, and I risk a glance at Fang. His eyebrows are knitted together, as if thinking or remembering something painful and I almost ask him what it is. I open my mouth to speak, to say something, but am cut off when Fang says, "C'mon. Let's get the rest of this furniture up. Work is good for heartache." He stands and holds out his hands to help me up.

I shut my mouth. "That's a new one," I smirk, getting up without his help.

He starts down the stairs. "It's true."

* * *

**Muahaha. Anyone expecting that? Yes? No? Oh well. I've never read a fic where that was done, so that was my version of an uncliche twist. If you've written a fic where that happened then I'm sorry.**

**Don't forget to vote for Niggy or Eggy! Whichever pairing gets the most votes by the time I post the next chapter will be the pairing the story goes with!**

**VOTE! (:**


	5. Dating Secrets

**The winner of the Niggy/Eggy contest is... Niggy! So along with the Fax, I'll try to start developing that. (: Thanks so much for voting, everyone. It really, really helped me, especially because I was planning on doing Eggy. **

**I also have a new story idea! I've started to prewrite some chapters, but I haven't posted any yet. I wanted to know whether or not you guys think it would be interesting/if you would read it.**

**This is kind of the summary I've come with. I'll probably make some adjustments.**

**_When the world ended, there was chaos. Children were left on the streets; families were torn apart in distress. Max, after being abandoned by her family is determined to make it, though. She sets off on a quest. But when she comes across some unusual allies, she learns that life isn't just about surviving. It's about living._**

**__****Eh, yeah. I'm definitely editing it some. But that's basically what the story's about. The world has ended and Max meets the flock and they try to survive and everything. No wings.**

**So, without further ado...**

* * *

Fang and I finished carrying up my furniture awhile ago. After he left I put everything away and I now sit eating a slice of leftover cheesecake.

Yum.

Nudge, Ella, and Lissa corner me at the table.

"OMG!" they squeal. "FANG WAS IN YOUR BEDROOM! WHAT. HAPPENED?!"

I blink and take another bite while they watch me intently. I swallow slowly, and I swear they're about to explode.

"Hmmm?" I ask, torturing them.

Nudge opens her mouth to speak. Oh boy. "Well, Fang was in your room with you alone for like two hours and he is sooooooo hot! You are soooo lucky! Well, obviously, I mean, you won the lottery. But anyways, we were all wondering what happened. Like, did he ask you out or anything? Because you're really pretty and he'd be stupid to not be attracted to you, and he's going to be the quarterback so it'd make you really popular and that would make us really popular... Well, more popular than we already are, you know because I know all the gossip and if he asked you out that would be soooo cute because you guys would look so good together with your simple prettiness and his darkness. I personally think that he's your soul mate but Ella and Lissa want them to themselves too much to admit that they agree with me and-"

"Nudge! Enough already!" Lissa laughs, nudging her in the side.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry," Nudge says quickly. She doesn't look very sorry though. She's watching me with wide eyes and a hopeful expression on her face.

I wait a long time before answering, trying to look like I'm thinking about what she said. The look on their faces is priceless.

"Actually, he told me he wanted to ask Lissa out," I tell them finally.

Lissa looks likes she's going to faint. "Oh. My. God," she breathes, fanning herself.

Nudge and Ella squeal. "THANKS, MAX!" they scream, and then they're carrying Lissa out and telling her their new makeover plan for her.

I laugh quietly as they leave and go back to my cheesecake. I'm putting the plate in the dishwasher when the doorbell rings.

"Can you get that, Ella?!" I call up the stairs since my hands are soaking wet.

"No! We're in the middle of plan 'Make Lissa So Hot That Fang Will Beg For Her Heart! Or MLSHTFWBFHH for short!" she calls back.

I roll my eyes and grab a towel to dry my hands. The doorbell rings again.

"Coming!" I shout. Geesh. Some people have _no_ patience.

Namely, me.

I run to the door and throw it open. I don't even have time to process that I could've let a murderer into my house because there, standing in front of the door is Fang.

He's smirking and I can only guess what he heard.

"Plan MLSHTFWBFHH?" he asks, clearly amused.

"Don't you dare let them know that you know," I whisper.

He makes the 'lips zipped throw away the key' gesture and smirks again, and then his mouth drops open as he catches something behind me.

I turn around in time to see Lissa at the top of the stairs. Behind her are also Nudge and Ella, but they're nearly insignificant compared to her.

Nudge and Ella are freaking geniuses if this was their plan. Lissa's hair looks like it's been waved naturally and her makeup is done to perfection, with bright, bright red lips to top it all off.

"Hey, Fang," she grins, tossing her hair.

Fang composes himself enough to close his mouth and get his normal look of nonchalance on. "'Sup?"

Ugh. Guys are their need to be cool.

Lissa giggles and comes down the stairs. She walks her fingers up his arm and then stops, resting them on his shoulders. "I heard you had a little crush on me?" she asks him quietly.

Fang glances at me quickly and then back at Lissa. Under normal circumstances he'd probably be furious. But he's so caught up in her flirting he doesn't seem to care at all.

He nods. "Lissa, would you like to go out with me?"

I can hear Ella and Nudge slap a high-five behind me.

Lissa pauses and licks her lips. "You bet I will, Baby," she says. And then she kisses him on the cheek, making a 'SMACK!' sound and leaving a bright red imprint. She pulls a piece of paper from her pocket with a phone number on it in giant letters. Instead of her swoopy handwriting though, the numbers are like blocks.

Kids and their flirting strategies these days.

"Call me." Then she turns and struts up the stairs with Nudge and Ella running after her.

Fang looks so confused and awestruck I have to wave my hand in front of his face to get his attention.

"Hello? Earth-to-Fang?" I ask.

"Aaa-whaaaa?" then he looks at me and shakes his head. "Sorry, what?"

I laugh. "What'd you come over here for?"

"Oh, I forgot my phone," he says.

"You did? I don't remember seeing it when I was up there," I say.

Fang pauses and I hear a quiet ringing coming from his pocket. I raise my eyebrows in question.

"...Nevermind," he says quickly, stepping back outside. "I found it."

"Wow, you're a real smart one," I comment.

Fang looks at me quickly and catches my eye, but then shakes his head and looks away. "I'll see you later, Max," he says, opening his car door.

"Yeah, see ya," I call back as he shuts the door.

I step back inside and close the door. Fang obviously knew he didn't forget his phone. So why did he come back saying he did? _Probably just to see Lissa again,_ I think, climbing the stairs up to my room. But a small part of me kind of wishes that that wasn't the reason.

* * *

**NUDGE POV~**

_Hey._

__I look down at my phone and my heart gives a little jump. Ella and Lissa are in my bathroom washing all of the makeup off of Lissa's face. Our plan was a success, and although Lissa claimed that her face had too much 'goop' on it, she'd gotten what she wanted.

My fingers fly across the keys of the texting pad as I reply. If Ella found out who I was texting... It wouldn't be good.

_Hey! What's up? (: _I reply, hitting send and sliding the phone into my pocket. Ella's hanging up the towel used to dry Lissa's face, and Lissa's examining herself in the mirror.

Just seconds later I feel my phone buzz in my pocket, but I don't answer it.

"Aren't we just the best friends ever?" Ella asks Lissa, walking over and sitting down on the plush carpet next to me.

"Yeah," Lissa smiles. But it's not her whole smile, just partial. She's been pulling away from us lately. Since last winter break we've all been falling apart; only our social status at school has really kept us together.

"Hey can I check my Book of Face on your laptop?" Lissa asks me, pulling it off my bed.

"Yeah, sure," I tell her. She opens up the screen and types in her login.

"Hey! Look at this!" she exclaims, placing it in Ella's lap. "Read Iggy's status update."

Ella bites her lip and skims over it. By leaning over her shoulder, I can see what it says.

_Thinking she may be the one..._

__I never got why guys posted those statuses; I've always hated it. If a girl does it it's fine. But guys... No.

"That pig!" Ella shouts, tossing the laptop back over to Lissa. "We just broke up!"

"Yeah, looks like we know the reason now..." Lissa murmurs, continuing to scroll down.

"Isn't he just so retarded?" Ella asks me.

I look up sharply. "Uhh, yeah. He's terrible."

Ella rolls her eyes and drums her fingers on the carpet.

"Worst relationship I've ever been in. The only thing I learned form it was that Iggy may be hot and all, but he is bad news. You got that ladies? Bad news."

Lissa laughs. "We know, Ella. You've only told us 50 times."

"Just making sure my point has gotten across," she grins.

Wanna know a secret? There's a whole burning in my pocket from where that text lays, and I can't believe they can't hear my heart beating.

That text was from Iggy.

And that 'one' he's talking about is me.

* * *

**Muahaha. So, now we all know that Nudge and Iggy are kind of secretly dating. And so are Lissa and Fang.**

**I'm sorry.**

**I'm also sorry for this horrible chapter. I don't know, I just think it's bad.**

**Don't forget to comment on whether or not you think I should post that story I'm writing! Who knows? I might just have it up next week. (:**

__**Stay amazing,**

**-MarieMMania**


	6. Broken Cars and Broken Promises

**It's been forever, hasn't it? I'm sorry. I don't even have a decent reason for not uploading; I just didn't do it.**

**Anyways, you guys waited for it and here it is!**

* * *

The next morning I wake up in my own bed.

Oh, thank God.

I also remember that we have to go back to school today.

Oh, crap.

I can just picture people running up to me and Ella, asking us how much money we have now. It makes me wish that the lottery never existed.

I roll out of bed and throw on jeans and a t-shirt, pull a brush through my hair, and brush my teeth. On my cellphone I have a missed call. It's a number I'm not familiar with, so I call it back within the safe confines of my own room.

"Hello?" I hear the deep familiar voice answer and almost laugh.

"Still can't find your phone?" I ask.

"... Still can't find your maturity, Max?"

"Immature is spelled the same as 'I'm mature', Fang."

Fang doesn't say anything, but I can picture him rolling his eyes.

"Okay, why'd you call?" I ask. If I don't leave in the next couple of minutes I'll be late for school.

"I was trying to call Lissa; I guess she gave me the wrong number," he tells me.

"Huh."

_'More like someone sabotaged it,'_ I think grimly to myself. The handwriting on that note was Ella's. That's what looked so different about it. Ella writes everything in almost a perfect square.

"Alright, well, see you at school," Fang says, disconnecting the call.

Stupid Ella and her match-making.

Stupid Lissa and her confidence.

Stupid Fang and his... Fangness.

I grab my bag off of the floor and hop down the stairs. Ella's sitting at the table finishing a muffin.

"You want a ride to school?" I ask her.

She shrugs. "I'm not going."

Ella not going to school? It's not like she loved it or anything, but she was the gossip queen. She never missed a day, especially not if there was a brand new couple.

I sit down in the chair next to her. "Why not?"

Ella shrugs again and crumbles up the muffin. "Lissa called me this morning and told me that we couldn't be friends anymore now that she's dating Fang. She said that her popularity would skyrocket and I might drag her down."

"You're popular, Ella," I tell her. Honestly though, to me this whole thing sounded ridiculous.

"Yeah, but not 'popular table' popular. I sit at the table next to it, where all the second choices go," she sighs.

Our school is very, very territorial. Everyone has their own table at lunch. There's tables for the nerds, the dorks, the jocks, the cheerleaders, the skaters, the band students, and the popular kids. You sit out of place, and I swear it's like you're breaking a law.

"Screw the popular table," I say to her.

Ella rolls her eyes. "Max, one person isn't going to change the school."

"I don't care, Ella. I'm sick of everything at our school being so freaking controlled by the people that have more confidence and makeup on then anyone else!"

"Whatever. Will you quit bothering me if I go to school?" she asks, standing.

"Yes, I will," I tell her.

"Then let's go." She throws the muffin crumbles in the trash and brushes off her flowery shirt.

I stand and my keys gingle in my hands. "That's my girl."

* * *

The drive to school is quiet, to say the least. It's my first time driving my new car, so I'm trying to get the hang of it, and Ella's fingers are flying across her texting pad so fast I doubt she would realize it if we crashed.

Because of our little chat, we are going to be very late if I don't speed just a little. So therefore I am speeding through the twisty streets to our school very carefully. Crashing is not something I plan on doing in this car.

There's barely any kids at the parking lot when we get to school and we have to park in one of the really bad spots in the back of the lot. After parking and triple checking to make sure the car is locked we sprint into the building.

Just in time for the tardy bell. Lovely.

I have homeroom first, and I run into Ms. Anne's classroom right as she calls my name for attendance.

"Here!" I say breathlessly, taking my seat right behind Fang.

She looks up sharply and scolds, but marks me present on the sheet.

"Alright, today we will be going over the..."

I tune her out and tap my fingers on the desk out of boredom. Fang's head is bent down, and I think he's asleep. Slowly, I reach out a finger and poke him in the neck. His head flies up instantly.

"What was that for?" he whispers fiercely, turning to face me and rubbing his neck

Jeez, I didn't poke him that hard.

I shrug. "Boredom?"

He shakes his head and turns back to face Ms. Anne, and I get another idea.

I open my notebook and scribble 'You gone out with Lissa yet?'' and throw it at Fang. It bounces off of his dark shirt and he picks it up off the ground. A couple seconds later a little note is being thrown back to me.

'No.'

Wow. Way to be descriptive, Fang.

Then the bell rings and we both spilt up to go to our different classes.

By the end of the day I'm worn out from school and from being asked, 'So, are you, like, completely and totally, like, rich now?' and I just want to snap. So when it takes me ten minutes to walk from my last class to my car I'm not surprised that it's one of the last in the lot.

Ella got a ride home with Nudge so that they could drown themselves in chocolate and throw darts at Lissa's picture. Every single time I saw her hold Fang's hand I wanted to punch her for what she did to my little sister. I'm pretty sure Ella did, too.

So when I'm unlocking my car and I hear someone nervously clear their throat I'm pretty sure I'm about to be murdered. I mean, there is _no one_ in this parking lot besides me.

"Max?"

I release the tension in my shoulders and turn around.

"Yes, Fang?" I ask.

Fang is standing behind me with his arms crossed and his hair swooping down just close enough to be hanging in his eyes if they didn't curl to the side. His dark eyes watch me closely.

"Uhh, my car broke down," he starts, wringing his fingers together nervously. "Could you drive me home?"

Wasn't expecting that.

"Sure, no problem," I say, opening the door the the driver's seat and climbing in.

He's still standing there, so I add, "I won't eat you."

Fang rolls his eyes and walks over to the passenger side and slides in, looking very embarrassed and very, very, nervous. I pull out of the parking spot.

"So, how was the first day back?" I ask. just to break the tension.

"Good," he replies curtly.

I clear my throat. "And Lissa?"

I can see him bite his lip out of the corner of my eye. "I don't know; she's not what I thought she would be like. And when I heard how she ditched Nudge and Ella it kind of rubbed me the wrong way, like she thought I was property or something."

So now he's talking.

I tap my fingers against the steering wheel and think of how to respond to this.

"With a guy like you, she has to treat you like property or the other girls would be throwing themselves at you all day. This way, they're too scared."

He looks over at me and quirks an eyebrow. "What do you mean a 'guy like me'?"

By his amused expression it's pretty dang obvious that he knows exactly what I'm talking about. Attractive, athletic, star football player... he just wants to hear me say it.

I blush slightly. "Oh, you know."

"Know what, Maxie?" he asks, faking innocence and nicknaming me.

"You're hot," I say quickly. And then I turn the volume to the radio station all the way up so that I can't hear him laugh.

The alternative station that's playing is my favorite, so I hum to it loudly while he yells, "Maximum Ride thinks I'm hot?! Is this true?!' jokingly. My ears are turning red and I keep my eyes fiercely on the road so that I don't have to look at him and his gleeful expression. Yeah, Fang is freaking gleeful. This kid loves to piss me off.

He directs me to the neighborhood that I used to live in before we moved.

"You can just drop me off here," he says suddenly, his whole body going rigid. "I can walk."

I turn down the music and look over at him. "Walk? Are you serious? I can drive you; don't worry about it."

Fang shakes his head. "Just let me out. It's fine."

His jaw is set into a hard line. He looks completely different than from what he did a minute ago laughing his head off at me.

"Fang, I am perfectly capable of-"

He cuts me off and says, "Unlock the door. I'm walking."

"Whatever, Fang." I roll my eyes and unlock the door. Did he suddenly realize that he couldn't be seen with me in public now that he has Lissa? It's not even like we were doing anything. I literally drove him home because his car broke down at the school parking lot.

Fang throws the door open and steps out. He doesn't mumble a 'thanks' or anything. Instead, outside the car he turns quickly, pulls the door back open slightly and looks at me.

"You're hot, too," he says.

* * *

NUDGE POV

Iggy greets me in the hall while I'm at my locker. It's the end of the school day and all that's left of the students is crumbled up papers and gum wrappers. He hides himself behind the door, tapping on it lightly.

"Hey, Nudge," he grins, his mouth quirking up on the side in that adorable way that makes me want to squeeze his cheeks.

"Hey, Iggy," I grin back, shutting the locker door and spinning the knob on my lock a couple times out of habit. I pull my bag onto my shoulder and look up at him. I'm tall, but he still looms above me.

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to catch a bite sometime?" he asks, making my heart flutter in my chest. Ella might have said terrible things about him, but he is gorgeous in a way that only blonds can be. I'm a sucker for blonds. I start walking, and he follows, waiting for my answer.

"I don't know, Iggy," I sigh. "You dated Ella last month. I don't think I could date one of my best friend's exes.

He fakes shock, puts his hands on his heart. "Oh, I would _never_ want you to break such an important rule in the 'Girl Code'. _Never._"

I laugh and he quirks a smile. "So, is that a yes?"

I think back to Ella and how everyday she tears another one of their pictures apart. How she hates him more than Lissa. How she would feel so betrayed by me if I dated him now.

I bite my lip. Lacrosse practice is going on outside right now. Iggy's in his uniform, ready to go back out to practice. He's going to be late to practice for asking me this. That means something, doesn't it?

We come to the door and I stop, turning around to face him.

"Nudge, I kind of need you to answer me," he says. "You know, gotta get to practice and all."

I don't even hesitate.

"Text me."

* * *

**I hope it was worth the wait. I'll update faster from now on.**

**Reviews are lovely. (:**


	7. Strawberries and New Pets

Disclaimer: I do not own the Max Ride series. I just realised that I had forgotten this.

Oh yeah, I also don't own Google... or Bambi.

* * *

FANG POV

Thank God Max left when she did. Thank, God.

Because right after she'd done a U turn and left the street Angel came running up to me.

With a dog.

A dog.

She had it cradled to her chest and was patting it's head gently when she skidded to a halt next to me.

"Fang!" she exclaimed. "I found a dog! Can we keep it? Please? Pleasepleaseplease!?"

The dog, a black Scottie, woofed happily in her arms and wagged his short tail.

"That dog probably has someone looking for him," I said to Angel gently with a sigh, kneeling down on the ground in front of her so that we were equal in height.

"But I found him in the streets, Fang. He was _in the streets._" Angel's small bright blue eyes lock with mine. They're so much different from Lissa's hazel ones, which she tries to trap me in everyday. A much more appealing brown would have to be... Max's eye color. Yeah, Max has pretty eyes.

And a pretty gigantic house and an attitude to match it.

"I'm sorry, Angel. But you know we can't have a dog. It's against the rules."

"It can be a secret," she tells me, a glint in her eyes. "We don't have to tell Anne."

I look down the street, trying to think of a way to explain this to her. I hate denying anything to Angel, since she's lost so much already, but I don't have a choice. She can't get relocated for breaking rules again. Her brother is here. Her real brother.

"No," I say curtly.

Angel's eyes glare at me, and her back goes straight. She hugs the dog closer to her chest.

"Fang, you will let me keep this dog," she whispers. Her tiny foot taps against the ground and I try not to laugh.

"No," I say again. "I won't."

Suddenly her shoulders hunch and she looks down at the ground. "Why not?" She sounds so broken and hurt that I lightly pull the dog from her arms and hold it myself.

"Because I need to keep you safe," I tell her. "And I need to keep you out of trouble. You only get one chance here, and I'm not letting you wreck it."

You would think that since she's only six, she wouldn't pay attention when I lecture her, but she does. She's so, so smart for her age that it makes me wonder what exactly happened to her other family. The ones that left her and her brother behind.

"Fang. Just once in my life I want something that's mine. Please, Fang. Please."

Don't look at her. Don't you dare look at her.

But I do.

Dang those Bambi eyes.

If I work extra hours at the club, I can make enough to pay for dog food every week. Angel will have to be responsible for keeping it hidden. I know she can do it.

I sigh again and run my hand through my hair, then hand the dog back to her and stand up. I'm pushing these hours. Already, I'm falling behind at school. But I need every cent to get into college and _get away from here._ I need to get out.

But I need to help her, too.

"Okay, you can keep it. But it stays outside and you have to make sure it stays hidden. I'll buy food and supplies; then you're on your own."

Angel's smile right then makes all of these future hours at the club worth it.

"Thank you! I promise I won't let Anne find it. I _promise._"

I just quirk a smile and lead her back home.

Back home to the Orphanage of Rivera Falls.

MAX POV

The next day at school Fang isn't there. In homeroom, there's an empty desk in front of me. In language arts, there's no one sitting at the table next to me.

Lissa looks absolutely fabulous sitting on her throne at the popular table, though. When I risk a quick glance at Ella, I see that she's squeezed a hole in her juice box from gripping it so tightly. Her eyes are glued on Lissa with a fire in them.

I think we're all getting sick of that girl.

* * *

Being Friday night, Ella has Nudge over from a sleepover. I would have J.J. over, my best friend, but she's out of town. So now I'm stuck with Ella and Nudge.

Wonderful.

Last time this happened they took me roller blading. Wheels do not belong on shoes. I've learned that the hard way.

Let's just say that fun little expedition ended with a broken wrist and ten stitches.

I'm not really in the mood to go out tonight, but I'm not in the mood to hide and run from them either. So that is why I now sit here in our living room with my feet propped up on the coffee table, enveloped in our huge fluffy couch. I've got a remote balanced on my head and a bowl of popcorn in my lap.

Yep, folks. This is how I spend my Friday nights.

When they pounce on me I can't exactly say I wasn't expecting it. The show I was watching was just so dang _interesting_ though, that I jumped when they screamed my name and the remote flew off of my head and right into Ella's face.

"Ma-ax!" she whines, her hand flying to her nose and pinching it shut. She gets bloody noses so easy it's not even funny sometimes. "Thanks a lot! It's picture day tomorrow!"

That means I've now wrecked two of her picture days.

"I'm sorry, Ella!" I gush, and I mean it. This was her one year to "redeem herself" or whatever. "Here, I'll get an ice pack."

I reluctantly get off of my comfy couch and make my way to the kitchen, sliding on the slick floors in my socks. I can't find an icepack in the freezer, so I bring her a bag of frozen strawberries instead. Our dad is on a health-kick this month, and he makes all sorts of smoothies out of frozen fruits.

When I get back into the living room, Nudge has Ella layed back on the couch with a blanket over her and like five pillows under her head to keep her head propped up. She has the lights dimmed and the TV on to Ella's favorite show.

"She bruised her face; she isn't dying," I say, trying to stifle a laugh as I place the bag on Ella's face.

"And who's fault is that?" Ella asks me, whacking my leg with the remote.

"Ouch, you could stop a kidnapper with that thing," I laugh, faking injury and stumbling.

Ella rolls her eyes and picks up the bag of strawberries, examining it.

"You couldn't even find peas!"

"Peas?" I ask her.

"Yes. When people get hurt, usually their loved ones bring them a nice frozen bag of peas to put on the injury," she says formerly, addressing me as if I was a kindergartener. "Not strawberries!"

I shrug. "Oh, you'll live. Peas are a stupid vegetable anyways."

"I like peas," Nudge pipes up.

"See!?" Ella exclaims, shaking her head and then dropping it onto the pillows in exasperation.

"Everyone's a critic," I sigh, turning on my heel. "Yell if you need me!"

I can hear them laughing and slapping high five's as I climb the stairs to my room.

On my phone there's a text from Iggy.

_Need to talk to you...,_ he's written.

Great. I know there's a ton of gossip about Ella and Iggy's breakup going around, and she pretends she hates guts now, but he's one of my best friends. To sum the situation up in one word, _awkward_.

Well, then again this is my life.

_What's up?_ I reply.

His answer back is immediate, like he was waiting with the phone in s hand.

_I want to go out with Nudge._

Of course he does.

I sit down on my bed and grab my laptop, googling '10 Reasons Not to Date Your Ex's Best Friend'. The page pops up immediately; it's something I often send to Iggy when he tells me this. I send him the URL address with a smiley face.

_Max, you've sent me that like a million times._ he replies.

_Well, if you would have read it then you wouldn't be talking to me about this._ I send.

The reply takes a while, and when I get it it's not what I was expecting. Iggy is the kind of guy with too much pride to have anyone help him out with anything, let alone beg for it.

_Please. I really like her. Please, Max._

If Ella finds out she will kill me. My body will literally be down in the Atlantic in an instant. Not to mention she'd probably do some voodoo and shun my spirit.

I need a hobby.

Ella won't find out.

Right?

My fingers type across the texting pad slowly, and I have to close my eyes before I hit send.

_Okay. What do I need to do first?_

* * *

**Oooooooh, everyone's doing things behind Ella's back. Will she found out? Will she? Will she? **

**Pfft, of course she will. But when?**

**I've gone seven chapters with no Fax. I feel like a terrible person. Maybe if I'm in a good mood the next chapter will have some. I've already got a little party planned for it. (: **

**Review for extra long, sorta Fax-y chapter? (:**


	8. Science and Set-Ups

**I'm such a terrible person. **

**You guys reviewed and everything, and it took me forever to write and it's not even that long. Spoiler alert! There's not even any real Fax. Oh well, I've gotten a storyline going.**

* * *

I am such a bad sister.

The next morning when I wake up Ella is standing by my bed with a tray of breakfast. It's not just cereal, either. She's made eggs, toast, bacon, and there's a tall glass of orange juice in the corner with a freshly sliced orange hanging on the rim.

"Max, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for flipping out on you the other day when you whacked my face. Even though today is picture day, I forgive you."

Pfft. Yeah, right.

"Ella, what's up?" I question, pushing myself up into a sitting position and taking the tray from her. There's no way she made me breakfast for me just because she overreacted.

"Nothing," she says a little too quickly. "I just wanted you to know how sorry I was."

"Huh." I say, examining the plate. "Okay then... Thanks…"

She flashes a relieved smile and straightens up. "Max, you're the best sister ever!" She leans over to hug me, careful not to disturb the nicely arranged food, and I make an effort to wrap my arms around her.

"...Okaaaaaaay. I love you, too," I say awkwardly.

Ella straightens and fixes her shirt. "Enjoy!" she pipes, with a skip down my staircase.

That was odd.

It makes my stomach clench, though. I'm going behind her back to get her best friend and her hated ex together, and for some unknown reason she's being an angel to me.

My life is just full of luck.

I hurriedly eat the breakfast Ella made me, (delicious, if you were wondering) and roll out of bed to start getting ready for school. Being picture day, I straighten my hair and wear a cute top, unlike my usual lazy 'grab-whatever-is-closest-and-go' routine. After throwing on my Dr. Matins, I grab the empty tray and go downstairs.

Ella's sitting at the kitchen table with her leg twitching; her eyes are glued to her phone, as usual.

"What's wrong with you today?" I ask her, grabbing my bag off the floor.

"Nothing!" she pipes. "Let's go!"

There's something up with that girl. I'll figure out what it is.

In the car, she's constantly checking out her face in the rearview mirror, applying more and more coverup to the bluish blackish mark. She keeps turning the mirror towards her and I have to keep turning it back.

"Ella do you want me to crash this car?" I ask her.

"Nooooo," she says reluctantly.

"Then quit messing with the mirror!"

She stops for a couple minutes, but when we pull into the lot she looks one more time.

"How bad is it? Honestly."

I look at her face. "Not that bad..." It looks terrible.

"Seriously, Max."

I roll my eyes and grin, getting out of the car. "Enjoy your day, Ella."

I can hear her huff out a sigh as she pushes the mirror back in place.

The whole day is rather boring, to say the least. Fang's back, but he sleeps the whole entire homeroom. It was pretty hilarious. I kept waiting for him to drool, which he didn't.

In science though, instead of being paired up with J.J. as I usually am, Mr. Bob switched me to being Fang's partner.

"Your mom called and said she wanted you to work with him for some reason," he shrugs when I ask him. J. J. frowns at me from across the room.

Yeah, sure she did. More like Ella called and pretended to be my mom. Jeeze, what's she up to now? Guess I know why I got breakfast in bed.

We have to make some sort of bubbly liquid thing for our experiment about chemical reactions or whatever, and I have to admit, being paired up with Fang isn't so bad. He does everything, and I just nod and follow along. My dad being a scientist, he explains the whole concept to me when I get home.

It's when Fang's pouring the orange serum into the flask that I notice his hair is still sticking up on one side from when he slept in homeroom. Without thinking, I reach over and smooth it down for him.

"What are you doing?" he asks, jerking back quickly.

My hand retreats immediately. "Your hair was sticking up. I fixed it." I feel like I'm blushing, which is stupid. I do stuff like this to everyone.

Fang doesn't say anything; he just looks at me and then shakes his head, continuing to pour the orange liquid.

Mr. Bob goes on and on about how the liquid will eventually sizzle and bubble while the chemicals react against each other. He's got some huge explanation for all of it, but to me it just sounds like a magic trick. Fang is intrigued though; I can tell by the way he copies down everything Mr. Bob says and keeps asking ridiculous questions.

We're told to talk quietly while we wait for the reactions.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" I ask Fang.

"What?" he asks, seemingly surprised that I asked him a question.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" I repeat.

"I don't know," he shrugs.

"You would be a good scientist," I tell him. "But you shouldn't be one. Scientists make terrible dads." It's not like my dad is the devil or anything, he just never has time for us with his work. Explaining school to me is one of the only times we get to talk.

"What if I don't want to be a dad?" Fang asks.

"Once you get married you will, if you want to keep your wife."

"What if I don't want a wife?"

I roll my eyes. "What are you? A first grader? Every guy wants a wife."

He smirks and then fumbles for his notebook as the liquids start to bubble.

"It's happening!" Mr. Bob exclaims excitedly, pushing his glasses onto the bridge of his nose.

"_He_ needs a wife," Fang says under his breath.

I laugh, "No kidding."

When class is over and the bell rings, Fang reaches to grab his stuff and I tell him, "Don't be a scientist."

"Don't be a scientist," he repeats back to me with a smirk, pulling his bag over his shoulder.

Maybe he doesn't think I'm that stuck-up after all. Maybe I can end up being friends with this kid.

Out in the hallway, Ella is waiting by my locker with a hopeful look on her face.

"Sooooooo, how was science?" she asks me while I switch out my books.

"Ahh, it was wonderful," I tell her. "Mr. Bob enlightened us with his lecture on orange serums that bubble together and create chemical reactions, and my science partner was switched to Fang. Strange, huh? Said Mom called in asking for my partner to be switched. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" I slam my locker door shut and face her, my empty hand on my hip.

"Umm, okay. I admit it. Nudge and I switched your partner. Surprise! But we have good reason," she grins, unflinching.

"Spill," I tell her.

"You know how Lissa and him are dating? And how Lissa ditched us for him and the popular crowd? Well, Nudge and I thought that if we get him to fall for you, then he'll leave Nudge and she'll have nothing! It's a win-win. You get the hot, totally amazing Fang, and Lissa gets nothing, therefore crawling back to us like the worthless thing she is." Ella says all this with her smile getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

"And the breakfast this morning?" I ask.

"Bribery," she replies.

"Mmm. High school hit you guys hard," I tell her.

"It's a dog-eat-dog world," she sighs. "Will you do it? Honestly, you guys would be soooo cute!"

"Maybe, Ella. I don't know. It's a lot to ask."

"Just be yourself. He'll love ya!"

I sigh and bite my lip. "Alright, Ella, I have to get to class. See you at home?"

"Yeah! Oh, and Max? This Friday there's a party at Dylan's house. Big pre homecoming thing. You need to come and look all hot, because Fang and Lissa will be there. Don't worry, Nudge will give you more details later. Ciao!" With a skip down the crowded hallway, Ella enters the mass of people and I head to math. Worse class ever.

I seriously need to rethink my whole strategy of life. This is way to much drama for me.

Hawaii sounds really good right now.

* * *

**Who's ready to go to Dylan's party? (:**


	9. Dylan's Party

"That hotel looks nice," I say over Iggy's shoulder, pointing to the laptop screen he's looking at.

"Mm'hmm. Five star rating, too," he says, scrolling through the pictures.

The week of the picture days flew by incredibly fast, and now it's finally Friday. To tell you the truth, I'm kind of excited for this party thing at Dylan's. I haven't really gotten out much over summer, and I miss being around people. Iggy's over here as my 'date', but I'm really just going to drive him over to Nudge's house to pick her up. They've been successfully dating behind Ella's back for one hour now. For some reason Iggy is certain that this is a good omen for their relationship.

He's now looking at hotels in Hawaii for me, since I've decided that that's where I'm going over winter break. Mom and Dad even agreed, as long as I make enough money to pay for the hotel fees and all souvenirs/activities. If I manage to do this, they'll pay for the plane ride. The only catch is that I have to go with Ella.

Eh, whatever.

"Keep looking," I say to Iggy, approvingly patting him on the shoulder. "I have to get makeup on."

"Sometimes I think you like pretending I'm gay," he comments, clicking on a new hotel link.

"Pfft, you're crazy," I laugh, walking back to my bathroom. After putting on mascara, dark eyeliner, and ruby red lip gloss, _and_ having it all approved by Ella, I'm allowed to get dressed.

I'm fully on board with this whole 'Break-Fang-and-Lissa-Up' plan. Ella says that if I succeed, she'll pay for half of my trip. Honestly, I need all the help I can get.

As she said before, it's a win-win.

Ella drags me to her room to find a dress, which ends up black and skin tight. Because it's so sleek, and I have trouble moving around in it anyways, she skips the heels and puts me in some light gray flats.

While she finishes up straightening my hair she keeps bringing up Iggy. 'Why did you bring him over here? I can't believe you. Why are you still friends with him?' Yadda, yadda, yadda. I just listen and nod my head sympathetically and murmur words of hate towards Iggy for her.

After about 30 minutes of fussing to make every strand of hair perfect, I'm allowed to look in the mirror.

"Holy crap," I whisper out loud, upon seeing myself, and Ella's grin skyrockets. I look like a flipping' model with my insanely long, thick blondish-brownish hair 100% poofed up and straightened. If this doesn't get Fang's attention, I don't know what will.

When I go back to the room to grab Iggy, he literally does a double take.

"Max… you look…." he stutters

I kind of like this. A little bit. Teeny-weensy. "Think about it, Iggs. Do you really want to insult me right now?" I joke.

"N-no. I was gonna say that you look hot," he blushes.

"Awwww, thanks, gay friend!" I exclaim, laughing. "Now, come on. Wouldn't want to be late for Nudge, right?"

"Nope, never," he whispers back.

Ella's coming to the party later. She's on social probation from Mom until she gets all of her late homework finished, which means she'll be googling information until 10.

Once in the car with Iggy, I text Nudge that we're on the way.

_Black or pink dress? _she texts me back.

_I don't know… _I reply. Ella and her really need to stop suspecting that I can do all this fashion stuff by myself.

_Well, what's Iggy wearing? Nudge texts._

_Jeans and a blue T-shirt._

_What color blue!?_

_I DON'T KNOW! USE YOUR BEST JUDGEMENT! _I slam my phone shut and look up at Iggy apologetically.

"Everything okay?" he asks.

"Yeah, just peachy," I tell him.

When he pulls into Nudge's driveway (it's literally five minutes from my house), she immediately runs into the car and dives in the backseat.

"DRIVE, I TELL YOU! DRIIIIIIIIVE!" she screeches, ducking behind the window.

Iggy doesn't need to be told twice. He changes the gear to 'reverse' and rolls straight out of that driveway, then he puts the car back in 'drive' and speeds away.

"What was that!?" I shout, after having been slammed back and forth against my seatbelt.

"My mom can not see my in this dress," Nudge gasps for breath. "She will cook me alive."

I glance down at Nudge's almost completely bare legs. She's decided to go with a hot pink dress that has long sleeves but is very… short.

"Well…. you are showing a lot of skin an-"

She cuts me off with a wave of her hand. "And my mom does not need to know that. Right?"

I laugh and say, "Yeah, like I'm in the place to be ratting you out right now."

"You're helping break the hottie and the devil-child up?" Nudge asks.

"I need money," I confess. "Besides, it's high school. It's not like they're engaged."

"Relax. I don't care. Just be careful," she says sympathetically. Then, she adds, "Oh, hey Iggy."

"Hey, babe," he replies with a smile.

Nudge has got the same look on her face from the backseat.

"You better pray we get away with this," she says.

"Believe me; I have been," he says back.

* * *

If the cops don't get called on this party, I will be beside myself. Two blocks away we can already hear the music and the shouts and the excited screams. Iggy parks far away; who knows what these kids will do to his car?

Nudge and Iggy holds hands walking in, and I hug my arms to my chest. It is freaking _cold_ outside tonight.

Upon seeing me shivering, Nudge laughs.

"At least Fang can give you his jacket," she jokes.

"N-n-not f-funny," I stutter, jumping up and down with every step towards the house I take.

I remember seeing Dylan at the Club my first time there, and how that immediately made me think that he lived in the poorer side of town and needed the extra money. After living here in Rivera Falls for a while though, I've learned that there are two groups of kids that work at the Club. Some work there because they need the money. Others because they're spoiled rich kids that get into trouble and have to work their police issues off.

After seeing Dylan's house, I'm fairly certain he falls into the second category.

His house is almost as big as mine, which is saying something. From the splashes and whoops coming from his backyard, it's also a pretty safe bet that he's got a pool.

Well, dang.

We walk in and I'm immediately hit by the banging music, which literally _shakes_ the walls and the pungent smell of alcohol.

"Don't leave my side!" Nudge shouts to Iggy with a wild grin, immediately pulling him over to the dance floor.

"What about me!?" I shout after her, but they've both disappeared into the throng of people.

I'm alone, well, kinda, in Dylan's house.

On a mission to get the hottest guy in school.

I suddenly realize how short my dress is.

* * *

FANG POV

_Party unite Dylan's(: U coming? xoxo_

I slam my hand down on my phone's speaker to dim the noise of the ring-tone. Eight o'clock equals lights out, even for those of us that are 16 years old.

I slide open my phone and start texting Lissa back, holding it under the covers so that the glare doesn't wake any of the kids.

_I don't know if I can…._

Her reply back is immediate.

_Pleeeeeaaaase, Fangy? For me? ): xx_

Anne sent another kid away today, so she's probably dead asleep under the influence of her luck.

_Alright. Be there in 10, _I reply without thinking.

_Love ya! xoooxoo, _is the reply she texts back.

I stand and throw on a sweatshirt, jeans, and some sneakers. Angel's bright eyes open and watch me as I cross the room to the door.

I put my finger to my lips, a silent promise she's come to learn over the past month.

She mimics me, and then settles back into her covers and closes her eyes again. She won't rat me out.

I slip down the stairs, skipping the third one that creaks, and grab my key ring off of the table at the front door. The only thing I had when I was sent into this home was my truck, so it's the only thing that Anne lets me keep. Luckily, I was able to afford Angel's dog food and all the repairs I needed for the engine with the hours I'd spent at the Club.

I lock the door to the home behind me and run to the truck, patting Total (Angel's dog)'s head, who lays in the trunk before sliding in. He doesn't even start, just gives and extra loud snore at my touch.

I slip into the driver's seat and start the car, pulling away from the home and driving into Rivera Falls, which is only a couple minutes away. Dylan's address is on a crumpled up piece of paper in the passenger seat that Lissa left for me after school today. She's super hyped up about this party, which sucks. I can't keep up with this sneaking out business. It's what got me sent away at my last home.

I pull up at the house without too much trouble and lock my car, sticking the keys in my pocket.

_Where are you? _I test Lissa, as I enter the house.

* * *

MAX POV

Okay, okay. I admit it. I kind of stood by the door for a while, just waiting for the stroke of luck that Fang would walk through that door. Which he did, so laugh all you want.

In fact, he didn't just walk through that door, he burst through it and ran into me, pushing me up against the banister to Dylan's elegant staircase.

"Hey! Watch it!" I yelled above the music, pushing him off of me, not yet realizing who it was.

"Sorry!" he shouted back. Then he looked at my face. "Max!?"

"Fang!?" I asked, surprised. Stupid, stupid, stupid me. Should've had a plan of what I would say. How do you make a guy like you anyways?

"You okay!?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I yelled. Screw this obnoxious music. I can't think.

"You-" we started at the same time.

"Sorry, what!? You first!" he shouted.

"No, no. You go!" I countered. I was just going to ask him if he wanted to go somewhere quieter. It could wait till my eardrums bursted.

"You seen Lissa anywhere!?" he asked.

Whoops. Should've of gone first.

"No, wh-" I was cut off my a loud pitched screech and a flurry of hair which ran into Fang from the side.

"Fangy-poo!" the thing cried. Guess I know where Lissa is now.

'Fangy-poo?' I mouthed at him, since he was facing me and she wasn't.

He smirked and wrapped his arms around her.

"Oh, hey Max!" Lissa smiled at me, pulling away from Fang. We knew each other pretty well. She pretty much lived at my house until a couple of weeks ago. "You wanna hang with us?"

I bit my lip. "Nah, I'm alright! You guys have fun!"

I could see a split-second of relief flash across her face, before she smiled at me again and pulled Fang away.

Great. Now what the hell was I supposed to do?

* * *

**(: Next chapter will be tons of party action, and a whole lot of plot twists. I'll try to update before next weekend.**

**Thanks again for all your amazing reviews! It sounds cheesy, but it really does inspire me to keep writing this story. (:**


	10. Dylan's Party Part Two

**I'm just going to let you guys know that in this chapter, everyone's a little OOC. But there's definitely going to be some Fax in the next chapter, so I'm proud of myself. (:**

* * *

The music at Dylan's party is so loud I can't even hear the couple that's talking to each other right next to me, so I decide that yelling for Iggy won't work very well.

Where the heck are those two anyways?

With some internal arguing between myself, I finally push away from the wall and decide to go dance. Standing here was not going to get Fang to notice me, and therefore standing here would not get me money for my Hawaii trip.

Once past the hallway, I can actually see just how extravagant and nice Dylan's house is. It's kind of sad that it's going to be a total wreck after this party. Already there are vases broken on the ground and soda cans stuck in every possible location. In the living room, where the base is booming the loudest, there has to be like fifty kids crushed together dancing. One of those pairs has to be Fang and Lissa.

"Max!"

I whirl around, and behind me stands Dylan, smiling broadly.

"Hey, Dylan! Nice house!" I shout above the music. God, was I awkward.

"Thanks!" he grins, totally side-stepping it. "You want to dance?"

Well, I have to get into that throng of people somehow.

"Yeah!" I shout to him. He grabs my hand and pulls me into the mass of people.

There's something about being pressed against random strangers that's very unappealing. Honestly, I'm not enjoying this whole dancing business very much. Dylan grabs my hands and wraps them around his neck, and then we just jump and sway and step to the beat in tune with everyone else. It gets better as it goes on, and fortunately for me we end up right next to Fang and Lissa.

"Hey, Fang!" Dylan yells to Fang, turning from me for a second and doing the typical guy fist-pound-hug-thing with him.

"Hey, Dyl!" Fang shouts. Great. Nicknames. I'm dancing with one of Fang's good friends. This night couldn't get any luckier.

"You enjoying yourself?" Dylan asks, glancing over at Lissa, whose red hair is everywhere and all tangled from dancing. I notice that she needs to wipe her sloppily put on eyeliner off her cheek. Thanks to Nudge, I look top-notch next to the wreck that was once Lissa.

"Yeah, this is great. How long are your parents staying out of town?" Fang shouts.

"A couple more days! I'll have the place cleaned up before they get back!"

"Good luck with that!" Fang smirks, and it's actually kind of adorable.

Lissa wraps her arms around Fang's waist and pulls him to the side a little.

"Come on! We came to dance!" she shouts to him, but it sounds more like a shriek coming out of her mouth.

"Yeah, one sec!" Fang says, pulling out of her arms. "Hey Dylan, you got a watch!?"

"Nope!" Dylan turns to me. "You know what time it is?"

I pull out my phone and check the time.

"It's almost ten! Why?" I shout, mainly to Fang. I need to go warn Nudge and Iggy. Ella will be here any second.

"Nothing!" he says. "Just wondering!"

I raise an eyebrow, and he gives me a look like 'I'll-explain-later', then Lissa grabs him and pulls him away. Dang it.

"I'll be right back!" I shout to Dylan, but he doesn't realize. He's too busy watching Lissa pull Fang away. Looks like I'm not the only one who wants to break them up.

If I know Nudge, she's dancing. If I know Iggy, he's eating. So I start wading through people in the direction of the kitchen, hoping that I'll see one of them on my way. Which I do. Iggy's trying to pull Nudge to the kitchen, and she's trying to pull him to the dance floor.

"Hey you guys!" I shout.

"WHAT!?" they both yell back simultaneously.

"Ella will be on her way any second!" I say, right as my phone beeps. I look down at it and see that it's a text from Ella.

_I'm here!(: Ready to create a distraction and get Fang away from Lissa for ya!(; _it reads.

"Make that now!" I shout. "Get away from each other!"

Iggy kisses her cheek, ever a gentleman, and then scatters off into the kitchen, leaving me and Nudge standing there alone when Ella finds us.

"Alright, I have a plan," she says at normal volume, which makes it sound like a whisper with the loud music. I can barely hear her.

"Shoot," I say.

"We're gonna go up to Lissa and tell her how much we miss her and want to hang out with her again. Make a huge deal about how much she means to us yadda yadda yadda. Then, while she's distracted you'll go in and dance with Fang/hide out in some dark room."

"Ella!" I shout disapprovingly.

"Relax! I'm kidding," she laughs. "Just get him somewhere where she won't find him."

"Alright, I got it," I say. "Now go!"

I seriously need this money.

Ella and Nudge go off looking for Fang and Lissa, and it takes them two full minutes before they walk back with her, leading her to the kitchen. Nudge winks at me as they walk by, and I throw myself into the mess of people one more time.

To my luck, I literally run right into Fang. I keep doing that for some reason.

When he recovers and realizes it's me, he smirks. "Can't keep yourself off me, huh?"

"You're so full of it," I tell him, laughing like Ella would tell me to do if she were here. "But since I'm here, wanna dance?"

Fang looks around, as if looking for Lissa, and then he shrugs. "Yeah, what the heck."

So we dance with everyone else, and I know that I have to get him out of here because any second Lissa will come sprinting back.

"So, you going to tell me what was up with knowing the time?" I ask, leaning close to him so that he can hear me without shouting. Because of his height, the top of my head only comes up to his eyes, and he has to look down at me.

"What? I can't ask for the time?" he asks me, looking down and speaking quietly too, compared to the music.

"No one just asks what time it is at a party like this," I say. "Unless they have crazy strict parents. But you're not running home, so what is it?"

"Can we go somewhere quieter?" Fang asks.

In my head I high-five myself. Perfect perfect perfect.

"Yeah, let's go," I say, starting towards the door.

We walk out to the front yard, and Fang leans against a black truck, which I assume is his by his casual position.

"Soooo…" I start, feeling awkward since he's so comfortable.

"Can you keep a secret?" Fang asks.

I laugh, and then stop myself, realizing that laughing probably doesn't sound very trustworthy.

"Yeah, my lips are sealed."

Fang bites his lower lip, and despite me being hard to impress, it's one of the hottest things I've ever seen in my life.

"I'm an orphan," he says suddenly, after a long moment of silence. "I snuck out tonight."

How do you reply to that? What do you say that makes that seem normal and okay?

Well, because I'm an awkward person, I just say, "Oh."

Fang smirks. "Don't tell anyone, alright?"

"What? Yeah, I would never…"

He laughs, cutting me off, and then he freezes suddenly and says, "Oh my God, I'm such an idiot!"

I start to say something, but I don't think he can hear me because he's turned around and is climbing into the back of the truck, frantically looking around for something.

"Fang? Hey, Fang? What is it?" I ask.

"This girl at the home, she has a little dog and it sleeps in my truck and I accidentally brought it here." He stops, pauses for breath, and then looks at me. "She loves it to death and I promised her I'd look after it..."

"And?" I press, knowing where this is going by the frantic look on his face.

"It's gone."

* * *

**Oh, Total.**


	11. Finding Total

**Umm, not the best chapter in the world. By far. I've had family visiting though, and they've driven me crazy. So you can't exactly blame me. **

**Oh well, Fang takes off his shirt. (;**

* * *

"You lost a dog!?" I start laughing, but then his expression stops me. "Why do you have a dog in the back of your truck?"

"I didn't really have a choice. You haven't met Anne," Fang says, running a hand through his dark hair.

"Who's-?" I start, but he cuts me off.

"Anne is the owner of the home, and she would ship me off if I let a dog in her house. That's why it stays in the truck," he says. "God, I'm such an idiot!" Fang slams his fist against the side of his truck.

"Yeah, you, uhhh, said that already," I tell him, starting to shiver. Now that it's the beginning of fall, nights have gotten especially chilly, and this dress couldn't keep a polar bear warm.

"I have to find him. Would you tell Lissa that I had to leave because my mom got mad at me for failing a test?" he asks.

"And she wouldn't of been mad at you _before _you left for the party?" I ask. But inside my head all I can process is that he wants me to lie to Lissa because she doesn't know that he's an orphan, and I do. Fang told _me._

"Just make something up. Please?" he asks, jumping down from the truck and unlocking it.

Suddenly, the gears in my head start turning, and I get the most brilliant idea ever.

"No, I'm coming with you," I say to Fang. "Two head are better than one, right?"

"Max, it's fine. I'll find him," Fang says, sliding into the driver's seat.

"No, I want too," I say. "I've got nothing better to do anyways."

"You sure?" he asks.

"Positive," I reply.

"Alright, get in."

I go around to the side of his truck and get in, pulling the skin-tight dress down over my thighs since it rides up when I sit. Why couldn't Ella at least give me leggings? It's freaking cold outside.

Fang sends a quick text to Lissa, but I don't bother telling Ella. Since she knows that I'm with Fang, she won't worry. As long as her little plan works out she's happy.

"Here," Fang says, pocketing his phone and leaning over and opening up the glove compartment. He takes out a flashlight and hands it to me. "Shine this out the window and look for a little black terrier. His name's Total, but he probably won't respond to it if you call him."

"Got it," I say, turning on the flashlight and rolling down the window.

"Umm…" Fang runs his hand through his hair again, and it sticks up all wrong, reminding me of when he did that in science when we first became partners. I had smoothed it down for him, and he had pulled back.

Without thinking, I reach over and start smoothing the out-of-place strands down, trying to fix it. He looks over at me as I do.

"What are you doing?" he asks, his exact reaction as last time, except this time he doesn't flinch back, he just lets me mess with it.

"Fixing your hair. Remember? I do this kind of stuff," I say. His hair is really soft. Like, _really soft._

Fang grins a bit, quickly, and then smirks and shakes his hair back out when I pull back my arm.

"You done?" he asks, starting the car.

"Yep," I breathe out. "Is there any heat in this thing? It's freezing."

"No, that's, uh, broken. Sorry."

"It's alright," I say, shaking my head. "I'll warm up."

Fang glances at my bare arms, which are sprinkled with goosebumps, and starts shrugging off his jacket.

"Here," he says, handing it over to me. "You need it more than I do anyways."

"Thanks," I say gratefully, shrugging it on. It's big on me, but it's warm and smells really good. "Alright, let's find this dog."

Fang puts the car in drive and we start off on our journey for Total.

* * *

"Who's the girl that it belongs too?" I ask while we're driving, remembering how he mentioned she would kill him if she found out Total was gone.

"A six-year-old named Angel who I've practically adopted," he tells me. "She's tiny, but she could kill you if you gave her reason to."

"Sounds like a sweetheart," I say.

Fang laughs, and it's the first time I've ever heard him laugh without stopping himself.

"Big-time."

We drive through Rivera Falls in silence, me shining the flashlight out of the window and stopping him occasionally so that we can get out of the car and search especially bushy areas. After two hours of this, and I literally mean two hours, Fang looks like he's going to rip his hair out, and he starts yelling.

"Why did I have to bring her freaking dog over here!?" he shouts, banging his fist on the steering wheel. "Why didn't I just put him on the grass or something!?"

"Because you didn't think anything bad was going to happen," I say calmly, wrapping his jacket tighter around me.

"Yeah? Well I should've!" Fang sighs heavily, leaning his head down on the wheel. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"

"We'll keep looking," I suggest. "No one is going to be out in the middle of the night to snatch him up, especially out here. He's probably right around the corner. Come on."

But he wasn't. And he wasn't around the next corner either.

"Let's just call it a night. I'll drive you home," Fang mutters.

I bite my lip and rest my hand on his shoulder. "I'll help you look tomorrow morning, okay? Nothing bad is going to happen to him."

Fang turns his head to look at my hand, and then his eyes travel up my shoulder and to my face.

"Okay?" I ask.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay."

* * *

FANG POV

If I wasn't so pissed at myself for losing Total, I might be enjoying myself right now. Max isn't as hard and tough as she usually is at school; she's actually kind of… bearable. She's also hot, which doesn't hurt considering that I've had to look at her for the past two hours. And when she talks... I don't know, it kind of makes me question Lissa.

"Turn right," Max tells me from the passenger seat, playing with the radio.

I turn right, following her directions. Since the search for Total failed, I'm dropping her off at home. Or, trying to drop her off at home. We keep going down streets with dead ends.

"This street is another col-de-sac," I say, driving in a circle. "Do you even know where we are?"

"…Not really," she mutters, giving up on the radio.

"Good job, Max."

"Oh, shut it."

I pull over in front of another one of the mansions.

"How do you not know how to find your own house?" I ask.

"How do _you _not know where it is. You've been there," she retorts right back at me.

"Yeah, _once,_" I mutter, frustrated.

"I though guys never get lost," she says.

"Don't pin this on me," I smirk. "This is your fault. Call Ella. Maybe she'll know where we are."

"Please. Ella doesn't even know how to find a box of cereal in our cabinet," she grumbles.

"Well, it's probably a pretty _huge _cabinet," I start.

"Why do you always go after me for the size and cost of everything I own?" Max asks, turning her head to face me.

"Because I have nothing and you have everything?" I ask.

"Why does it even matter to you?"

"I don't know."

Max throws her head back against the seat. "I didn't want to be rich, you know. I was happy living in my old neighborhood without the koi pond in the front yard."

I don't say anything.

She turns her head to look out the window. "Look , it's not fair that you don't have a family, okay? It sucks. But that's how your life worked out, and it's not going to change by you going after me about it."

"Okay," I say, my head cooling down. "Okay. What do we do now?"

I can see her bite her lip, and then she leans her head further out the window and squints her eyes.

"What's that?" she says.

I lean over her seat, and squint my eyes too. Because there's no street lamps in Rivera Falls, it's hard to make out anything, but there's definitely a lump lying on the grass between two of the mansions.

"Turn on the flashlight," I tell her.

Max lifts the flashlight off of the ground and flips the switch, but nothing happens. She hits it with the palm of her hand twice, and still it remains unlit.

"I think it's dead," she says.

"Great," I mutter. "I'm getting out. Come if you want."

I push open the door and step out of the car, shivering in the cold. Max is right. It's freezing. She joins me outside the car and together we go to inspect the object.

Only a couple steps closer to it I can smell blood, and I hope that it isn't Total. I don't know how I could take care of an injured dog.

Next to me, Max calls out, "Total!" and the object lifts it's ears up. Those ears are unmistakable.

It's Total.

* * *

MAX POV

Fang is off and running the second the animal moves, and despite my dress, I run after him. When I catch up, he's kneeling next to what I can now see is a dog, and he's pulling off his shirt.

"Woah, woah, woah. Calm down," I say, glancing around nervously. Not only are we on someone's property, he looks likes he's stripping.

"Look at his feet," Fang says, now tearing the shirt in half. I look down at Total's feet, and they're covered in blood and tangled in barbed wire.

"Oh my God," I whisper. "Since when was there barbed wire in Rivera Falls!"

"Since now, I guess," he grumbles, starting to gently unwrap it from the dog's poor feet. I kneel down in the mud next to him and start working on the other foot. In no time we have the wire gone, but Total's legs are even worse off then I thought.

While Fang starts wrapping the first half of his shirt around one of Total's legs, I sneak a peek at his bare stomach, and I think I gasp a little. Fang has _abs_. Like perfect abs you only see on swimmers or models.

After finishing the wrap, Fang looks up at me and quirks an eyebrow. "You done? Or are you going to stare at me all night."

I clear my throat and avert my eyes back to Total. "I-I'm done," I stutter. Fang has way to many surprises stored up inside of him for me to process through in one night.

He leans over closer to me to wrap up Total's other foot, and I don't scoot back, even though I should probably give him room.

Then Fang gently scoops up Total in his arms and straightens. He's so close to me I wouldn't even have to hold my hand out to touch him. He's literally within reach of my fingertips, which are laying in my lap.

He looks up at my eyes, as if surprised that I'm so close and that I haven't moved, and then I watch his eyes glance down at my lips, and back up to my eyes quickly. I'm frozen, not even moving to shiver. My whole entire body is alive and full of him and his presence.

Then Total whines and Fang shakes his head and stands up, breaking the spell.

Although I stand too and start following Fang back to the car, inside my whole body sighs.

What the heck is wrong with me?

As we start searching for my house again, Total lies in my lap and I pet him absentmindedly, more focused on Fang.

"What are you going to do with him?" I ask.

"I don't know," he admits. "He needs medicine to get rid of the bacteria in the cuts or they might get infected. I don't have any way to get that."

"I'll keep him for you," I suggest. "Just until he's better. I'll get the medicine and make sure he heals, and then you can have him back."

Fang taps his fingers along the steering wheel, thinking. "Okay," he says finally as we pull up in front of my house. "But if it becomes to complicated or anything, I'll figure out something else."

I laugh. "Don't worry about it. He'll be fine." I shrug off Fang's jacket and hand it to him so that he doesn't have to keep driving around with no shirt on.

"You're not like most girls, Max," Fang says, not moving to pick up the jacket.

I get out of the car, Total firmly in my hands.

"I know," I say, shutting the door.

Before he drives away, I can see him shake his head and grin.

* * *

**Max is walking into her house in the middle of the night with a bloody dog in her arms. **

**Oh boy.**


End file.
